Elevator-rail greaser.



W. A. GARVENS 62; G. J. GEGKS.

ELEVATOR RAIL GRBASBR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15. 1910.

Patented Feb.14,1911.

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ATTORNEY.

.W. GARVENS & c. J. GEUKS.

\ ELEVATOR RAIL GREASER.

urmoumn FILED AUG. 15, 1910.

Patented Feb. 14, 1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. GABVENS AND CHARLES J. GECKS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ELEVATOR-IRAIL GREASER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. GAR- VENS and GHAnL s J. GnoKs, citizensof the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Rail Greasers,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Our invention has relation to improvements in elevator-rail greasers;and it consists in the novel details of construction more fully setforth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the upper portion of anelevator cage or car showing our invention applied to the rails thereof,and to the rails for the coun terbalance weight; Fig. 2 is an enlargedhorizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a verticalsection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, the rail being left dotted; Fig. 4:is a transverse vertical section through the grease-box on the line H ofFig. 3; Fig. 5 is a top plan of the grease box or receptacle with lidremoved; Fig. 6 is a top plan of Fig. 7; and Fig. 7 is a verticalcross-sec tion on the line 7-7 of Fig. 1 showing the manner of clampingthesupporting bracket for the grease-box to the shoe-bearing or sleeve,the terminal platform being partly broken.

The object of our invention is to provide an elevator car with a greaserfor the main guide rails (and likewise for the rails guiding thecounterweight) which shall insure an easy delivery of the grease to therail; one which makes provision for wiping any excess of grease; onewhich keeps the rails smooth and clean; one which maintains the flowfrom the box or container in which'it is held; and one possessingfurther and other advantages better apparent from ade'tailed descriptionof the invention, which is as follows Referring to the drawings, Crepresents the car or elevator cage, R the cage guiderails, and R theguide-rails for the counterweight W, the rails'being T-shaped incrosssection, the web of the tee serving as the rail proper. The topbeams or structural me1nbers 1 of the carcarry the brackets 2, a sleeve.3 forming a part of said bracket and serving as a bearing for the stem 4of the shoe 5 Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 15, 1910. Serial No. 577,218.

grease at the proper consistency to readily Patented Feb. 14., 1911.

which rides over the rail and maintains the car in true position alongthe rails. The features referred to are well understood in the art andform no part of the present in vention. The identical arrangement isresorted to for the guiding of the balanceweight WV.

The improvement herein concerns itself with the manner of greasing therails, each rail R, It, being greased in identically the same manner sothat a description of one of the greasing devices will suflice for all.

The greaser is constructed substantially as follows :--Clamped to thesleeve 3 are a pair of bracket arms 6, 6, a filler block 7 beingpreferably introduced between them above the sleeve (Fig. 7), and aclamping bolt 8 passed through the arms and block. The upper end of thelonger arm 6 terminates in a forked platform 9, the open-ended slot 10between the fork members receiving the shank of a clamping screw 11which is carried by the bottom of the grease-box or container 12. Theslot is disposed at right angles to the web of the rail It, so that itmakes it possible to adjust the box 12 on the platform 9 transverselyacross the plane of the rail-web. The box 12 is provided with a U-shapedrecess 13 so as to straddle the railweb (Fig. 5), the walls of saidrecessed portion being provided with an opening 0 through which is freeto play (vertically) the leather wiper 14 said wiper being pro 'videdwith a recess 15 the sides and bottom of which frictionally engage thesides and edge of the rail-web so as to effectively wipe the excess ofgrease delivered thereto from the grease-box 12. The wiper 14 is securedto a flexed resilient spring 16, one end of which is fixed to the frontwall of the box 1.2 (Fig. 3). As the cage C rises, the wiper 14: will beforced into contact with the upper edges of the bottom side wallsections of the recess 13 defining the opening 0, and when the cagedescends the wiper will be forced along the rail until it strikes thebottom edges of the upper side wall sections defining said opening 0(Fig. 3). The flexed spring 16 tends to force the wiper against the edgeof the rail-web, the frictional contact between the parts causing thewiper to lag behind the cage with the descent or ascent of the latter sothat necessarily the wiper will reciprocate between the limits indicatedwith the travel of the cage up and down. In these reciprocations thespring 16 will also play up and down thereby causing it'to agitate thecontents of the grease-box and causing such contents to readily flowover the upper edges of the basal'wall sections of the recess 18, themaximum level of the grease being indicated by the line at. Thegrease-box is closed by a lid 17 which is held in position by screws 18passed through the side walls of the box or container 12 into lugs 19depending from the lid and projecting into the box. The lid is providedwith an angle-bracket arm 20 the bottom horizontal leg of which isslotted, the slot 21 accommodating the shank of a securing screw 22whereby the bracket may be adjusted to and from the rail It. Thevertical arm or leg of the bracket 20 on the other hand is provided witha clamping screw 23, the shank of which passes through the open-endedslots at of the inwardly deflected legs of the anglebrackets 25,'theside legs or members of which have secured thereto the scraper blades orjaws 26. These blades are preferably of the design best illustrated inFigs. 2, 3, 4, though any equivalent will answer therefor. These bladesbeing carried by the bracket 20 are obviously adjustable to and from theexposed edge of the rail-web; and being secured directly to the brackets25 (which by reason of the slotted connection thereof with the bracket20 are adjustable to and from each other) these blades are in additionsusceptible of adjustment at right angles to the plane of the rail- Web,so that any thickness of rail may be spanned by the scrapers byadjusting the brackets 25 toand from each other along the screw 23. Thenproperly adjusted the screw 23 clamps the brackets 25 tightly to the arm20. The scraper keeps the rail clean of dust, grit and dirt sothat thegrease may always find a clean surface on the rail over which it mayspread. The scraper however, performs an additional function:The greaseis of a limpid or semifluid consistency and at ordinary temperaturesdoes not flow freely. The friction of the scraper rubbing along the railheats the scraper more or less, the heat being communicated to the wallsof the grease-container 12 which thereupon softens the contents to causeit to flow freely over the edges of the lower wall sections of therecess 13 through the opening or removed portions O the rear and sidewalls thereof. In this way the rail web is well greased and the shoes 5travel over the rails without friction. In addition the oscillation orreciprocation of the wiper 14: oscillates the spring 16 which thus keepsthe contents agitated to insure apositive flow with a travel of the cagein either direction. The box 1.2 may be adjusted on its platform 9across the plane of the rail web so as to accurately center the recess13 and the recess 15 of the wiper relatively thereto; the scraper jaws26 on the other hand are susceptible of adjustment to and from therail-web and may be separated to accommodate any thickness of web, allas fully obvious from the drawings.

With our invention the rails are always kept greased and cleaned, theshoes 5 always having a lubricated surface to travel over. The wiperwipes off any excess of grease with each trip of the cage, and theblades 26 keep the rail clean.

What is true of the greaser for the cagerails R is true for theweight-rails R, the greasers in all instances being the same, and thesame reference numerals applying thereto,

While the term cage in the claims designates the elevator car 0, it isto be understood that the invention is not to be limited in itsapplication to an elevator cage, for as already described, it may withequal propriety be attached to the counterweight WV.

Having described our invention, what we claim is 1. In combination witha car, a shoe carried thereby, a rail for guiding the shoe, a greasecontainer mounted on the car and delivering the grease to the rail, awiper engaging the rail for wiping the excess of grease, and a membercoupled to said wiper and partially submerged in the grease foragitating the latter.

2. In combination with a car, a shoe carried thereby, a rail for guidingthe shoe, a grease container mounted on the car and delivering thegrease to the rail, a Wiper for the rail, a member coupled to the wiperfor agitating the contents of the container, a scraper for cleaning therail and frictionally engaging the same for developing sufficient heatto be communicated to the walls of the container for maintaining thegrease contents in a fluid condition.

3. In combination with an elevator cage, a guide-rail, agrease-container provided with an open delivery portion spanning therail, a wiper in the container engaging the rail and having a limitedindependent reciprocating movement along the rail, and a yield ingmember secured to the wiper and container wall respectively andsubmerged in the container contents, whereby the latter is agitated withthe reciprocations of the wiper.

4. In combination with an elevator cage, a guide-rail, agrease-container provided with an open delivery portion spanning therail, a wiper in the container engaging the rail, means connected to thewiper for agitating the container contents, a scraper coupled to thecontainer and rubbing along the rail, the friction producing heatcommunicated to the walls of the container for maintaining the contentsin a condition for ready flowing.

5. In combination with an elevator cage, a guide-rail, a platform havlnga slot disposed at right angles to the rall, a grease-containeradjustable along the slot, and pro- Vided with a recessed portionspanning the rail, the side and rear walls of said recessed portionbeing cut away a suitable distance to form a discharge opening, a flexedspring having one end secured to the container wall opposite saidopening, a wiper secured to the free end of the spring and operatingthrough the discharge opening, the free edge of the wiper having arecess engaging the rail, a lid for the container, a pair of bracketmembers adjustable in a plane at right angles to the rail, and scraperblades enveloping the sides of the rail and secured to said bracketmembers, the parts operating substantially as, and for the purpose setforth.

6. In combination with a grease container having a discharge opening forthe grease, a rail a wiper in the container engaging the rail, and meanscoupled to the wiper for agitating the container contents.

7. In combination with a grease-container having a discharge opening forthe grease,

a rail for receiving the grease, a wiper in the container engaging therail, means coupled to the wiper for agitating the container contents,and a scraper on the container rubbing the rail and generatingsuflicient heat to maintain the contents in a liquid condition forflowing.

8. In combination with a rail, a greaser traveling along the rail, and apair of scraper blades on the greaser engaging the opposite faces of therail and adjustable to and from one another, and to and from the rail,substantially as set forth.

9. In combination with a guide-rail, a greaser traveling back and forthalong the rail, and a wiper on the greaser engaging the rail, and havingan independent motion along the rail in opposite direction to the travelof the greaser.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses.

Witnesses EMIL STAREK, STELLA HALL.

